Illinois Legislative History

House and Senate debates are the primary source for determining legislative intent in Illinois. Publication of the debates, however, did not begin until 1971, when the new Illinois Constitution required that the floor debates of each chamber be transcribed. As a result, compiling a legislative history can be a frustrating experience due to the lack of published hearings, reports and documents.

Legislative information for the current General Assembly is available here and, for prior General Assemblies, here. The electronic content varies; the earlier the General Assembly, the less information that is available in a usable format. When a previous General Assembly is selected, a menu showing the content available for that particular year is displayed. Types of content available include: legislation, public acts, journals, transcripts and summary reports.

The following are the steps to take in order to compile an Illinois legislative history. For a a more detailed guide, consult Chapter 2 of the Illinois Legal Research Guide (D'Angelo Law, Reference, XXKFI1275.W42 2006) . The Legislative Reference Bureau's research guide also discusses the legislative process in detail. A diagram of the Illinois legislative process can be found here.

1. Look at the law in an annotated code

Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated (West)
Print: D'Angelo Law, Reading Room XXKFI1230 1993

Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated (Lexis/Michie)
Print: D'Angelo Law, Bookstacks XXKFI1230 1993 .A4

(or via LexisNexis Academic)

2. Find the public act number for the legislation question:

Check the history note to find a reference to Public Acts (P.A.) number. Note that the first number refers to a General Assembly number, not a year. If you find a reference to "Laws," the session law is pre-1970, and transcripts of debates do not exist.

3. Convert the public act number to its corresponding bill number:

Search the appropriate General Assembly page to find the correct "Public Act to Bill Number Conversion Table, " resulting in a House (H.R.) or Senate (S.) Bill number.

4. Search the House & Senate debates:

Until recently, the debates were only accessible in microfiche. They are now available in an electronic form organized by legislative day. Searching the debates is a multi-step process:

Consult the "Master Index" for both the House and Senate by searching under your General Assembly year and bill number. This Index is found under "Transcripts" and then "Listing" for each chamber. Record the information (including dates of debate, page numbers and action) listed. Note that the second and third readings of a bill are the most likely times for significant debate on a bill.
Search each legislative day and page number individually for debate. Note that transcripts can also be searched by keyword but the OCR for older debates is not always accurate so you risk missing something.

5. Study the chronology of the bill:

Legislative Synopsis & Digest (D'Angelo Law, Bookstacks K323z) prints a chronology of all actions on each bill during the year, available in PDF (1985-2005) . Current information is also available on the legislatures' website under "view all actions"

Laws of Illinois (session laws) (D'Angelo Law, Bookstacks K324) available on Hein Online (1809-2005).

Journals of the Illinois House (D'Angelo Law, Bookstacks K322.8.a1)

Journals of the Illinois Senate (D'Angelo Law, Bookstacks K322.8.A2)

6. Consult secondary sources

Sources such as the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (Lexis or Westlaw), the Illinois Bar Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Springfield Journal-Register and law reviews on Lexis or Westlaw may provide useful.

7. As a last resort...

Contact the Illinois State Archives, Reference Service (217) 782-4866. Provide them with the Public Act number and explain that you have consulted the transcripts of debates and want to make sure there is no additional information.